Google Upgrades Mapping Products With Developer Tools

location based services


Updates include fee-based licensing and support for businesses wanting to embed Google Maps in Web sites. Google also released a new version of Google Earth for consumers. By Antone Gonsalves TechWeb.com Jun 12, 2006 07:19 PM
Google Inc. on Monday unveiled several updates to its mapping product suite, including better imagery and new tools for developers who want to embed the applications in Web sites.
Google launched the upgrades at its first Geo Developer Day, held at the company's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. Among the announcements were updates to the application programming interfaces (APIs) of Google Maps, which provides street maps, driving directions and local search.
In merging geographic information with the online applications, developers can now integrate geo-code addresses. Geo-coding is the process of assigning geographic coordinates, such as latitude and longitude.
Other API updates include a new feature that enables the display of Keyhole Markup Language (KML) on Google Maps. KML is the file format used by Google Earth and other applications to share geographic information.
The feature enables data created in Google Earth, which provide satellite views of locations, to be seen in a